Glencore has pled guilty to bribery-related to African Oil operations.
According to reports by The Guardian, a subsidiary of Glencore “has pleaded guilty in a London court to seven counts of bribery related to its oil operations in several African countries.” The charges were brought against the FTSE 100-listed company by the Serious Fraud Office after conducting an investigation.
The report reveals that the SFO formally charged the company at Westminster magistrates court in London with bribery offenses for preferential access to oil between 2011 and 2016. Later, the case was sent to the higher Southwark crown court for Tuesday’s plea hearing.
After Glencore pled guilty, the Serious Fraud Office announced that the sentencing hearing would take place on 2 and 3 November. A month ago, Glencore said it would plead guilty in the UK and pledged to pay a settlement of $1.1bn (£900m). The SFO said on Tuesday,
“Glencore Energy (UK) Ltd has today been convicted on all charges of bribery brought against it by the Serious Fraud Office. At Southwark crown court, the company admitted to multiple counts of paying bribes to secure access to oil and generate illicit profit.
“The SFO’s investigation exposed that Glencore, via its employees and agents, paid bribes of over $28m for preferential access to oil, including increased cargoes, valuable grades of oil and preferable dates of delivery. These actions were approved by the company across its oil operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.”
